rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

done deal, bring on the power, and the blessings too

THURSDAY

so varga llosa got the 2010 nobel prize, thats news to me, i woulda swore
he already had one, okay then, one for me and they will be caught up

 

WEDNESDAY

one more day schoolhouse and obligations, friday im going back to work - showtime

samesame  obama and the dems - circling the wagons, calling on the base to stand firm, strictly
defense, the mighty progressive base, all thats left to hold the wall against impending onslaught,

sometime thats all you can do - holdon, blunt the losses, position yourself for the comeback -
might not be that many of us but whats out there got to stand firm, they will not pass,

not here, not today

in the name of fred hudson of fdcc, fred never gave an inch

 

SATURDAY

trying to let my novel get cold before digging into it but the more i let it sit
the more i doubt myself, the more i fear that it will disappoint  -  ima use this week

to catch up schoolhouse, manuscripts & obligations, by thurs ima be back in the saddle, i cant not be working,
life gets weird when you not working - my father, classic general practitioner, in his final years

was very sick but he still went into the office and often just sat there barely functioning
family convinced him to retire and a month or so later he was dead, it was like

working kept him alive, and we regretted convincing him to stop, thats the

way im feeling, i cant not work, i just cant, aint really living then, just surviving

rdoc

FRIDAY

strange space, not being driven by major project i kinda dont know what to do w/myself
im being productive, working thru manuscripts, catching up w/paperwork, etc etc

but i just dont feel right not desperately working on a major project, really looking foward to
really being thru with this novel, proofs done - i want to do my holybook, thats what i want to do

interesting piece on southern sudan say the situation is: obama choosing to continue bush option of persuasion over coercement and likelihood that northern sudan will either stall out the referendum

or allow it to go thru and move to destabilize the fragile new country and fan the souths own civilwar tendencies - and all i can do is watch

there was once a time i would have been trying to move on that, identifying the organizations that are on the ground, determining the nature of play, determining who positioned for the most effect, determine what levers are available within infrastructural framework or purview, which persons most influential, are there levers that can reach them, even in the most emphemeral manner, id have been looking for roots to manipulate, and pieces to place, with full understanding that the odds of true influence are almost nonexistent but over the years you get better at it, your contacts and constituents better placed, your power network more refined cause all along you been training your constituents/regulators to power and depending on how worthy the goal you might have to invest years, a lifetime - but i was young then, had lifetimes to invest, when you get my age your game should be almost pushbutton but i dont have the respect and profile i should have at this stage in the game so ive had to pour it all into the work which is cool and maybe what the gods intended, i hope this novel will change that ah but ive hoped that with each one ive ever done, we shall see, all you can do is keep on keeping on, step by step inch by inch, as for the rootwork since i cant do it ima tell you how its done - im out

THURSDAY

to melanie and my fellow travelers at tbr

finished my draft last week, like to think ive finished my novel but before i can say that i have to put  it down, let it get cold for a couple of weeks, read thru it and see if it passes the cringe test - poetrydraft and its a done deal

meantime ima enjoy the energy unleashed, not only do i have
freed up energy, i just feel powerful, like i can do anything

thats gon last until i crack that bad boy open again and start cringing

okay, my last tbr post, wanted to do a rickydocs blessings for the world thing
originally conceived this as blessings for the blackworld, then thought as per last post i need to

elevate my game, do a blessing for the world

so then i start listing all these challenges in the world

the global economic malaise
the rise of fundamentalism
the conflict between islam and the west
african development
strengthening global infrastructures
global conflicts and hotspots
immigration and nationalism
quality of life issues (poverty,health,etc)

then i realize this list can go on and on, and somewhat lacking in specificity

what about iraq and the middle east, what about people losing jobs and houses et al, what about grinding poverty all over the world, folk living on 20 cents a day if they lucky, what about hunger, aids, god help me it goes on forever - the human condition in all its pain and wonder

so let me just give a generic blessing for the world -  when it comes to the human
condition i am an incurable optimist, i believe in the capacity of the human spirit

to evolve and solve any problem - i believe that life gets better thru time - i have to
otherwise id despair

so let me say this world - when you come to the crossroads,
always take the highroad, always strive to be greater than you are

step by step, inch by inch, slowly we turn - ima count that as your blessing on me

so now, a few blessings for situations that move me personally and ima call it a day:

sudan, somalia, the congo et al - may peace and well being fall upon you like rain, 3 generations

and haiti in there, poor haiti, you know i got to bless you, hold on, rickydoc got a plan, hold on

the folk of iraq have suffered so, you get a blessing too, a big sloppy blessing

the southern sudan in its coming referendum and subsequent development - dont worry about that, ima walk you thru that, rickydoc aint gon let you fall

and mugabe, man i wish i could say something to you make you understand what youve done to your legacy - no blessing for you

israel and palestine, i dont think there is anything i can do with that, israel afraid to give slack, the palestinians got no slack to give, i expect nothing but pain here, they been standing at the crossroads a mighty long time, somebody will have to make a move - i suspect it has to be israel - may both those people come out of this hale and well

the conflict between islam and the west, i should put this one with the rise in fundamentalism

this one is complicated and perhaps the most fraught of the moment, i have faith that the good folk both sides will prevail - dont really have a lot of choice - suicide bombers and jihadis on one hand and on the other, palin, beck, foxnews, teaparties and militia movements incensed by election of obama -

progressives both sides, islam and the west, will have to make common cause - hold steady

and let me do a blessing for barack, and maybe a word of advice

brother obama, lecturing and admonishing your base wont get it, you got to beg, man, tell them youve learned your lesson, ask them please come thru for me and i will come thru for you, i need a little more time, please dont bail on me now

he young, still got some growing to do but dont we all - nov 2 lets put a blessing on barack, the democratic congress and my midterm voters - my mighty frontline, hold it, rock steady, lets put a blessing on the world

anything else that bother me personal -  people losing their jobs, people cant find jobs, folk losing their houses, the hammer this collapse has been - hold on, position yourself for the comeback - its gon work out, you have my word on that

to all the conditions i will think of as soon as i send this off - dont worry, i got you covered too

and all the generations - i would humanity be a star faring culture, always evolving, always reaching for higherground - when you come to the crossroads, always strive to be greater than you are - but you got that right, i dont have to say that again

and let me drop a little blessing for my friends and family, i will try to be more attentive in the future

same same my colleagues and students over at the schoolhouse -  nothing but love

let me save my last blessing for tbr, my literary warriors in array

the future is yours, take good care of it

all my love

in the name of the conqueror

word by rickydoc

TUESDAY

its interesting 'finish' novel and now i got energy, im
exercising, im burning thru manuscripts, im taking care of old biz

energy, not only do i have energy but i feel more powerful

my mojo is on

i am concerned thou that when i read thru it in a couple
of weeks that it will be as devestating as the last time i thought i

was thru, but i will worry about that in two weeks
right now ima take advantage of this energy

and take care of business

i see the macarthur list is out, i should check to see if im on it
but i suspect not, nobody got in touch with me, every year i am

shocked and dismayed to be left off, a serial oversight

im out

rdoc

 

gods favored son

TUESDAY

well i finished the draft, i told a couple of folk i finished the novel
thats the way i felt yesterday, done, kaput, fini

man did i feel good yesterday, but now ive put it aside, i will pick it up
in a couple of weeks and see if it passes the cringe test

but now i recall that i thought the same thing back in june, finished a draft
and thought i was thru, dug back in and found myself wading thru mud

so i guess this time i will hold off on the party till i do

was reading where the supreme court ruling has gendered a 6 to 1 funding
advantage for republicans thru outside orgs that dont have to show their sources

this is really bad, thats a imbalance that will only grow more poisonous
and no way to change it because the republicans will never vote that one out

im gone, i got to do manuscripts

rdoc

 

 

SUNDAY

hello world, never guess who i ran up on yesterday, that scene i fudged when i was longhanding, it still needed longhanding, some scenes you can halfstep thru and the novel dont fall apart, some scenes they dont work and the novel fall apart, this scene got to work - but its like im fresh this time, been doing it all morning and i like what im coming up with - process, you got to love it

was thinking of some interim piece to send tbr, some commentary, show i think about things other than my work

but i dont have time for research or real thinking, maybe a quick string of commentary as blessings, maybe even get off some of my prophetic thing

did a presentation for the panafrican committee central newyork yesterday, had bought his medicine man cloak last time i was in the city, medicine packets, mirrors, the whole bit, i was going to give it its maidenrun for this presentation, i was nervous about appearing in front of an african audience in my medicine man coat but i figured it would be can i back it up and i knew my game was tight

and i like showing african audiences that african americans havent lost their licks, that we just putting some new moves on it

- if i do say so myself i threw down - and at one point was calling on the ancestors to come down with blessings

so im in a blessings state of mind, ima do a blessing for the blackworld

- rickydocs blessing on the sudan, in its coming refendum, see them through the rough times they are to endure

- a blessing on brother obama,, may his vision improve, may his game  . . . something something somthing.... 

the congo - something something something

somalia  - something something something

mugabe - something something something

haiti - something something something

what else, what other trouble spots in the blackworld, what about economic pain here, harlem - something something something

what about the blacks of india, europe, iraq, and cuba, where do i draw the line, i see this gon get twisty

you know what, i was  just thinking about my last post, instead of a blessing for the blackworld, i need, from an evolutional perspective, in terms of widening my purview and deepening my power, do a blessing for the world

thats the strong move here, the critical blackworld issues will also be world issues

ima have to go w/the strong move, will have to do this later, im supposed to be longhanding, just get it started now, work it up over the next couple of days as free time allow, send it to tbr -  then send them my piece on representing for my last post and thats a done deal

of the last post shaped this post so they will be out of sequence

whatever

rdoc

 

 

SATURDAY

clocking pages, slow but sure

that tbr guestblog thing is coming into a closure
got one more thing i want to do for them, a piece

on representing, being a black writer in the post racial 21st
ready to close down that shop but i been intending to leave them

with that high note, best i start working it out here
polish it up before i send it in about a week

first full disclosure

ima child of the 60s, blackpower, civilrights, blackartsmovement
a year of blackinization in the nam, studied with babajohn killens

and i come out of the militant wing of the southern black bourgie
where i come from racial custodianship a family tradition

taking care of blackfolk a sacred calling where i come from

i come out of that we all in this together world of pre civilrights -
that belief we are only as strong as our weakest

its just what i do, no if and or but - my understanding is to life life to its
fullest is to life a commited life, one of service

but in the postracial reality of the 21st century i often feel out of touch
when i speak out for blackfolk people look at me like im unsophisticated

like i didnt get the memo

i did get the oneworld memo, i acknowledge it the stronger reality
the reality of the future and every day i strive to master a oneworld

sensibility, to speak in my works for all humanity

when i was a young writer my whole constituency pretty much was black
but in my literary maturity my constituency is all over the place

thats my evolutionary track, universalizing
the tribal voice

but that dont mean ima leave blackfolk leaderless - visionless

all over the world blackfolk suffering, still last in every quality of life matrix

everywhere in the world that you got blackpeople they on the bottom of their respective society
cant blame everywhere on nobody else, somehow someway we must transform into strengths

the weaknesses that have crippled us in global oompetition
i got to work the tribal soul as only the high hoodoo can

accepting the oneworld reality as given mean statusquo, blackfolk as eternal bottomfeeders
that dont get it - not on my shift - o no no no no, im flipping that script, it is the

geas of rickydoc - aint gon never walk away from the plight of blackfolk in this world

so i had to figure out how to work with both hands,
how to take care of both my families, blackfolk and all humanity

i have addressed this ideological quandry by attempting to illuminate
and empower african american culture, make it a culture to which others

aspire and emulate, the magical negro basically

make sure that its one of the cultures that makes the oneworld cut, that it
is a substantial contributor to the common culture of the future

that way as i work on empowering and illuminating african american culture
im also empowering and iluminating all humanity

i know, its weak, its dicey, but it works for me, thats all i need
it dont have to work for you, it work for me

i can speak for blackfolk without being apologetic,
without feeling like the game has moved on w/o me

it is this attitude i have tried to bring to my time on the tbr stage

it has been a point of honor for me to do right by you

i am a sturdy voice of african american literature, the griotic wing

african american lit has been since its inception the voice of a
culture which has felt itself under mortal seige

determined to use the power of art and the word

to empower and illuminate, to function as guide and guardian of

the tribal soul and destiny

we have sent generations of warriors into this struggle

we will prevail

in the name of babajohn

all my love

rdoc

 

THURSDAY

good morning world, hope its as good in your world as it is in mine
i been doing my redpen and its turning into a quasi poetry draft

get thru this 30 pages or so and i will do the whole thing poetry

i love the poetry draft, the story is told, all you doing now is

working the poetry (and a couple of rough spots probably)
this is when one word, one phrase, can add layers of meaning

to the text

this is when weak passages repoetized become startling strong

this the draft i love, this when the 10 odd years of investment pay off

this the draft when it sing

got today and tomorrow strictly me and the work, may get the 30 done may not, depend on how fast i move and i generally move slow, but it is what it is - everything

good in my world - today i am blessed of the gods 

rdoc

in the name of the conqueror

 

MONDAY

hello all, this is a tbr post i did a couple of days ago

this one kinda rough, as you know im busy, i dont have time to clean this up, didnt mean to be so extensive, i just got caught up, what ima do is not read over it, that way I dont have to rewrite

i am concerned about the southern sudan, ever since I read chancellor williams destruction of black civilization, the sudan been holyground to me

january they vote on independence from the sudan, this vote is a given, the question is what happens next, will the sudan willingly give up its primary oil supplies, not likely, will they put aside an ageold contention with the southern tribes

not likely, will the southern tribes stand together, not likely, the historical pattern seems to be where two blacks stand, none stand together,

what about the grinding poverty, the archaic social system, the lack of human resources, and me the armchair player, bemoaning once again my lack of resources in the realworld,

as a young artist politico the soldiers and activists wings would berate the artists and the thinkers in the movement as being ivorytower theorists

and as a young artist i was susceptible to this charge but i am comfortable now in the knowledge that my most profound contribution will be through my works, if i can write works that will inspire generations i will have done what i been put on the planet to do

your organizing efforts might help one or two folk, a given community, but if you want to effect systematic change on the human condition, your best shot is thru your works

but then situations like obama, like the southern sudan, come up where i crave power
in the realworld, when i want to make a difference, my response is nonfiction, blog et al

which is a very poor substitute for some kind of direct action but i got to do my thing

as a young artist i had discretionary energy that often went into political organizing, i no longer have that option, everything i can beg borrow or steal now got to go into getting my work done, assuring my legacy

 anybody can be an activist, nobody else on the planet can do what i do – which is write what i write, work my vision

but i have this lifelong fantasy of founding a thinktank, founding an international consulting firm on governance, assembling a good team, contracting out to governments and blackworld leaders in need of committed guidance – just thinking as i write this, i am part of palf, panafricanliteraryforum,

had a meeting with jeff and mohammed in the city this weekend, we about to make some moves on nigeria, palf been more than a notion, 3 writers do not a viable board make, im the systems guy, the organization guy, which gives you an idea of just how bad a shape we in – we call ourselves going to different african countries, holding literary conferences and empowering literary cultures, couple of years ago we did ghana, our initial run – but we all busy writers and we doing just enough to keep it alive, but when i get this novel done ima have to put that in play

im thinking i can work some institutional goals into that framework….

okay rick, you need to chill, down boy, but you see how my mind run, its my nature to put pieces in play, i just cant help myself, that’s how i was trained, but the fulfillment of that particular initiative will take a full court press and i cant do that and be a great novelist too, least not at this stage in the game

i have to repress that side of me, do it on the side, in my spare time, allow its fullest manifestation in my work

which is part of what i like about being a writer, this prophetic thing i got, this would be prophet of the hoodoo way bit, that’s a recipe for failure, i dont believe a true prophet can be a success in their lifetime, then they become something i dont care for, so my little efforts in the realworld to manifest as a prophet of the hoodoo way are shall we say frustrating, failure is a given,

but that’s okay because on another level whatever i do in the realworld is just research for my books, cause ima metafictional, all i got to do is write about being a would be prophet and a mode that would otherwise be considered delusional has realworld value, in fact i get my best material from failure in life

I did not intend to get this deep into themud

once again i have gotten all involved in a post, i meant to write you a quick note, i got to do manuscripts today, i feel a great sense of relief that i have finished my longhand phase (w/a little cheating), now ima put the book down, focus this week on schoolhouse, domestics and palf, then redpen this weekend hopefully,

would like to take a week or two off and prepare myself for the final lap but until i redpen that last 30 pages or so im not really done and rest wont be restful

so this is the plan – take the week to catch up on schoolhouse manuscripts, palf and some domestics – then this weekend its redpen do or die

dont know about you but ima be clocking pages, do or die

as for the sudan ima do what I can – a luta continua

rdoc

 

 

SUNDAY

i am totally burnt out it appears, have to force myself to the computer, do a para and im ready to quit
do an hour and im ready to nap, i have obviously overextended myself and got nothing left in the tank

at this point im not getting bang for my buck, what i need to do is take a couple of weeks off, get some rest
only problem with that is i dont think im able to take that kind of time off, but it may be moot, as wore out as

i am now its not really my decision, that last scene needing to be longhanded i fudged it, just used the old
draft cause its coherent enuf to fill the hole, i will have to fix it later in the game, right now i just need to be

able to say im thru w/this phase

hopefully i will have enuf energy to redpen last 30 pages or so next week, them ima

have to put it down for a week or so before i do the last draft, the poetry draft

do i have time for a quick commentary, not really but was looking at situation w/dcs fenty
a postracial politician thought he could dismiss his black base, food for thought barack,

in your case your black and liberal base, get your game together brother
saw where he was cracking on his base again, chiding them about the public option

i just dont see the point barack, must be that he is sensitive about it and feeling petulant
come on barack, get your game on - samesame you too rick, get your game on

 

THURSDAY LATER IN THE DAY

i realize, sitting here wading thru students manuscripts that the reason im bummed out is because i havent worked on my own work for about a week now, and still got that 20th deadline, im really bummed out, hopefully i can get a groove on this weekend

THURSDAY

well dear regulators, thats it, sent that barack piece out and im not feeling the love

now i got the why did i even waste my time doing that blues

the everytime i tell a story i expect it to change the world blues

the why do i insist on spitting in the ocean blues - im feeling unappreciated

i know on the realside its cumulative, respect and readership build up over time

but i been doing this almost 40 years now and im still a footnote

i look at all the ink ive invested in rootsblog/tidalbasin/facebook this last month

and i think i could have finished that novel for sure if i had been focused

then i got the schoolhouse taking up all my discretionary time,

between prep, classes, paperwork, dept meetings and student conferences
ive got to invest mon/tue/wed/thur into the schoolhouse full court press

which give me fri to rest, sat and sun to work - thats just not enuf to do otherstuff too
specially when you include domestic and family obligations etc

im just underwater, and everybody want to do lunch, folk want to hangout,
orgs asking me to do presentations, family folk always in crises

everybody want a piece of rick - everybody unhappy w/me when i say i just cant do it

but until i get this novel done i get no respect, none - i call myself writing strong and it gets ignored

which has been the case with my books too, but at least they books, ima have to chill

there is this throw in the iching say the superior personality has two ways of influencing the world
you can contend in the court or you can withdraw to work on  yourself as a model for generations to come

i translate that as a spiral, engagement in the arena and withdrawal for reflection and renewal
i believe ima have to withdraw for a moment, until this novel get done i dont do nothing that aint

obligatory - might be over these literary blues in a couple of days

but for the moment im out, im done

rdoc

WEDNESDAY

well i posted that barack obama over at basin and facebook
was so bold as to note it on facebook which put it on everybodys

wall which i hate but i wanted to make sure it got distribution
sometime you got to go ahead and throw the dice

since i was making the move i needed to make it the strongmove
make sure it get to enuf folk that its truly embedded in the historical flow

but now im embarrassed and wont even look at facebook for awhile
should have just put in the flow and been done with it

i need to focus anyway, shoolhouse got me by the throat, if i dont finish
this novel soon i just wont have any time, or is that the case rick

took a quote off honoree jeffers wall from toni morrison
was thinking for the benefit of students and wannabes but

perhaps i need to pay attention myself

 ‎"I don't want to hear whining about how it's so difficult. Oh, I don't tolerate any of that because most of the
people who've ever written are under enormous duress, myself being one them."—Toni Morrison

ima do one more big post for basin about representing, being a blackwriter in a postracial reality
other than that ima chill

this what generally happen, i step out there real bold, embarrass myself and withdraw

im still not altogether comfortable with this social media thing where you constantly telling everybody your business

but i got a constituency and i got to keep them fed - thats you dear regulators

you know what i enjoyed most about that move, signing it in the name of the conqueror

word by rickydoc

you i can say that to, cause i know you understand what that mean to me

me and you, dear regulators

all my love

rdoc

TUESDAY

beloved photographer ernest withers been outed as fbi informant -

this is one of his iconic images, the i am a man signs of the garbage workers strike that brought king to memphis

man im in a state of shock, i saw him right before he died, going into a store on union,
he asked about my mother, who was mortally sick, i was touched by an elders concern

i called him baba withers, as did much of black memphis,
trove of fbi freedom of information documents here, chronicling black militancy in memphis

during the civilrights/blackpower movement, all provided to the fbi by ernest withers

- this one hard to digest, one of those i dont want to believe it moments

makes you wonder who else did they turn - also i want to go through the files

make sure they got me in there somewhere, a badge of honor

when i went into the army 1969 my files went with me and caused me some grief
when i was adoption process recently they asked me what about this trespassing charge in 68

and i realized they were referring to the takeover of the deans office at memphis state
amazing how long that kind of stuff linger, it will be interesting to see how folk from the struggle

respond to these developments, i find myself willing to give him a pass, i know i shouldnt

but he lived long enough to become a respected elder and thats where ima leave it,

it was me and mine that he betrayed and if sweet willie wine can forgive him i can too

come the warhorn and the uncertain trumpet of barack obama

  MONDAY

hello dear regulators, did this one for my tidalbasin guestblog

but its reading good, figure i will put it up here too

work the kinks out before i send it over to the basin folk
problem with posting there is that i cant rewrite and w/this blog thing

you got to be able to rewrite

when you running and gunning you end up putting stuff up before its polished

i generally fiddle with a piece a week or so after ive put it up before i move on, so anyway i been working on

this piece i call the  uncertain trumpet of barack obama, its kinda long, ima try to edit it down, clean it up

im out, im doing manuscripts today for my workshops tomorrow and as always im behind schedule

thing about manuscripts is you never really satisfied youve captured the essence of a piece and going to give good advice on making it stronger, in a perfect world i could spend a week per manuscript and still wouldnt be satisfied - ohwell

all my love

rdoc

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

 

Come the Warhorn and the Uncertain Trumpet of Barack Obama  

hello dear regulators  

a little political commentary today, a little less me me me,   sometime i get to macking and start telling folk more than i should, so lets take the spotlight off me and put it on obama  

obama is in trouble, mostly i believe of his own doing, but this put us in a tribulation far more pressing  

barack could have handled this much differently, but its easy i guess for me to carp from the bleachers, he all about the longgame, i got to give him that much, its his shortgame thats questionable  

and there some structurals that have tripped him up, this recession for one, global complexity another  

now he got to contend with an angry electorate out for scalps, but still he could have played this out different,  

now it look like him and the dems going down in nov unless he step up his populist game, my concern is that it wont be enough - democrats got a serious enthusiasm gap, mostly because of obamas moves, the way he roll  

obama brought a political army with him to the whitehouse and immediately begin to ignore it in his attempt to be bipartisan, eventually it just dissipated,

he take better care of his enemies than he do his friends, lately he starting to channel fdr a little teenincy bit but he will have to do better than a couple of speeches here and there, he will have to show the troops that hes learned a trick or two, that he got a decent learning curve

my boy been so iffy his victories - healthcare, saving auto industry, 2 supreme court picks, et al - dont feel like victories to a dispirited base,

obamas team go so far as to ridicule the progressive troops, the very folk would walk on nails for him if he let them

problem is that he been so iffy its hard to back him up, this from somebody who consider him brotherme brotherblood brotherblack - brother in trouble bring back my vietnam blackinization days, my me and you brother against the world training – I desperately want to back him up 

lately he been coming on somewhat strong but its hard to believe its any more than electoral convenience  

i always knew he would be a disappointment to me because you dont run for president (and win) unless you ready and willing to play the game, to make more compromises than i would consider legit  

but thats why he do what he do and i do what i do  

when you a race of activists everybody dont take the same path, and there more than enuf struggle to go around –   im not a politician, ima political theorist, i can afford principles obama cant  

but principles aint been obamas problem sad to say, he been confused about the nature of struggle today and still may be - thought bipartisanship and being holier than thou would bring the republicans to their senses and turn them into something they not and have no intention of being – serious about governing  

barack and i both would like to think that race has nothing to do with the rabid resistance some folk have to him - least they havent tried to impeach him like they did clinton - but i have to believe that some of the unreasonable anger toward obama is sublimated racism –

obama dont want to see that, or feel like he cant afford to see that, he cant afford to let his presidency become about race because thats a recipe for going down in political flames, but his election has clearly infuriated the yahoos.  

i am concerned for the brother, he been cornered now
which mean we been cornered  

barack has led us into a trap and we gon to fight our way out of this one

our goal now is not to win but to survive   and survive we must  

the alternative too painful to contemplate - think president palin and the options become startlingly clear,  

think teaparty cabinet in charge of social security, in charge of education (think texas), in charge of the army and the security establishment, in charge of our lives, imposing their own little sharia on us all   the mind boggles  

folk remember the republicans for economic policies that enriched the rich and beggared the rest of us, and for their attempts to ‘starve’ the government (how is this any different from the goals of the taliban)

these the very same folk who ran the government and the economy into the ground, fought wars on false pretense, ran policies that shamelessly enriched the rich and ruined the economy, the list goes on

well I got news for you, the teaparty folk worse, the repubs dont believe in gov but the teaparty folk hate gov, I believe they hate us all

but the most insidious aspect of republican control was to try to use the power of the government to ensure their continued rule, to treat the gov like it was an arm of the republican party, remember the attorney generals, remember the way bush used the supreme court in elections, the way the repubs lockstepped K street, what about the recent supreme court decision to unshackle corporate donations  

these political transgressions we would deplore in a thirdworld country  

we cant let them back in power, we just barely cleaning out the stink they left behind when they were  
and if its palin and the teaparty in power i just dont know what id do - well yes i do, id take it and knuckle down for the comeback but i would be very dispirited  

if you think you dispirited now, just contemplate president palin, go ahead, I dare you  

dont think its not possible, could have won the last election if the economy hadnt tanked on them, if they had played their cards differently  

there is no way that we can get out of this november unbloodied, the economy and jobs so bad that incumbents, mostly democrats, will pay - also the dems won so many republican seats last two elections that they ripe for correction  

i dont know why obama didnt come up with a wpa type job op from the beginning, now that he been cornered he proposes a little weak version he know aint got a chance in hell, nor any other of those proposals he coming up with  

they just theater at this point and we know it,  

his idea of saving the economy been saving wall street while mainstreet twist in the wind - o barack, my brother, that just wont do - you gon have to throw down my brother, talk to fdr while yall hanging out there in the oval office - or are you just not ready for prime time after all

but it does not matter, we cant afford to let that boy go down, we just cant afford it,
we will have to save him in spite of himself  

and im not talking about just speaking out in our respective ivory tower forums – as im doing now –   we all know what it will take to bring this one home, full service electoral politics,

i know how that works, i know i personally need to go sign up with some organization to do yeomans work - callbanks, voters stuff, motorpools, get out the vote ops, etc etc etc etc etc - should trot on over to the next ofa (organizing for america) meeting and get busy  

perhaps even leverage myself into a leadership position – I know how its done, ive done it before  

and even thats stepping late into the game, should have been organizing all along so that when time come to throw down you bringing resources to the table  

whitehouse organizing under pressure too -  obamas op, organizing for america, been doing stealth organizing, they trying to pull some slick tricks off but its been shaky - political analysts assume that OFA not gon have any measurable effects on the midterms, i suspect they right  

while the teaparty firing all burners, got the enthusiasm for turning out obama we had for turning out bush  

whitehouse recently gave OFA 30 mil, but its kinda late in the game for that, more like they setting up for 2012 than for 2010 - but the repubs have already crippled barack when the dems have had a historic majority - if they take congress now its back to square zip  

so, knowing what I know, seeing what I see, there a couple of reasons why im not down there at OFA syracuse organizing and electorating  

one, who got time, im already critically overextended and i dont know anybody that isnt  

two, its hard to throwdown for obama when he dont seem to want to throwdown for himself   you feel like you gon give your all and be left holding the bag  

while Obama continue to do his bipartisan thing and get his lunch ate  

but thats what the game require and im trying to convince myself to step up – I confess, i love america, i love what america can be, the one use its power to help people, its own and others, to be a good citizen of the world  

that america the teaparty represent, that one i dont love so much  

ima child of the 60s, i remember the civilrights movement and i detect the parallels, the same impulse that lead me to march and picket and sit in et al, thats whats driving me now  

this a crossroads moment and when the story told i want to be able to say i did my part  

whole world depending on us  

right now the frontlines of struggle electoral politics, and ima do my part, i always have - and ima hope barack gets his act together in time to inspire folk less motivated  

and if he get his butt kicked this go around i hope it will inspire him to try harder   samesame the rest of us -  process  

cause this battle for the soul of america, a battle to define what america is, what america means  

as evidenced in the recent tussles over the meaning of sept 11^th, that battle to define what this day means to us, does it represent america crumbling under assault or rising above it  

9/11 was an unprecedented hammer, question is how do we leverage that hammer into power, what is power, what is it that makes america great, what make it less than great  

whats the difference between fundamentalists burning the koran and the fundamentalists who flew that plane into the towers - they both fundamentalists and fundamentalism is a problem wherever it seed – think palin, think teaparty, think koch brothers 

the republicans couldnt even condemn the koran burner with a straightface when those the very attitudes they been fanning and counting on for november  

now they trying to fight off teaparty incursions into their own ranks, but thats what happen when you lie down with dogs you get fleas,

our best hope now is that they end up nominating a bunch of unelectable teaparty folk, but we cant depend on serendipity when the stakes this high  

these the very same folk trying to take over in nov   and 2012 – and they just might win  

im telling you - this a battle for the soul of America, and its a battle we losing   this a battle we cant afford to lose  

im tired, im tired and im weary, ima old warhorse in need of rest but I suspect I got one more good campaign in me, let me get a couple of stretches in ima be ready to mount up  

we gon have to save brother obama in spite of himself

cause this aint about him, this about the people  

those of us call ourselves progressives, those of us feel that we have a responsibility to look out for all the civilians who dont have our skilz, to be a voice and instrument of the peoples will and well being, for folk in need, who feel that we are only as strong as our weakest - well we cant afford to sit this one out  

rightwing been outorganizing us for some 40 years now, it will take generations of hardwork to change the attitudes we see in play now  

but its all coming to a head in about 50 days, midterm all about getting the vote out, thats all it is

we know what its gon take to turn this around only question is will we do it  

I dont know what tune barack call himself playing  

but  

that sound you hear thats the warhorn  

thats a real old tune, lets do this 

in the name of the conqueror - word by rickydoc        

babajohn killens, the great griot master of brooklyn and battling the blues

LATER SUNDAY

okay, this is what happened, spent the whole weekend fiddling, anything but writing
come the last day i can possibly get anything done, im working, but now i only got today

i can only go so far, if i had spent the whole weekend i coulda finished the draft
then all i would have left to do is my poetry draft, so ima try this long weekend schedule

one more weekend, if it goes like this last one ima have to switch to a morning schedule no matter what
cause its the stop and go that doesnt work so well, it takes a couple of days to get my groove back on

and i aint got but a couple of days so that aint working, if i get another bad weekend ima have to
do them both everyday, mornings for my work, evenings for schoolwork, and maybe still a couple of

days on the weekend but this time i wont be starting from a cold dead stop
i got to go, finally working, got to go - still trying to make the 20th, not looking

too good, and im not feeling too good, dont like it when my novel grow in drips and drabs

but no sense in me crying on your shoulder, just got to clock my hours, when you doing this stage
you clocking hours instead of pages, cause you aint moving very fast, i been working all day and i

got maybe two pages, at this speed i got to clock more than one/two days a week, that wont get it

making a novel got to be serious about your production, constantly monitoring it, revising it
refining it to get more bang for your hours, constantly adjusting

there is a certain ruthless discipline to being able to keep sitting there
working when you get so little for so much - knowing you got to do it again

tomorrow, and the day after and the day after that et al

if i could i would just put this novel down and live out my life

just have the same lifetroubles everybody else have, thats sufficient enough struggle for anybody

but i got people expect me to shine, people that believe in me, waiting for me to do my thing

thats you dear regulators

and if i ever let you down it wont be for not trying

ima do this

focus, rick, focus

rdoc

SUNDAY

hello world, i had a very weak weekend this week, did maybe one day of work
the other days i just agonized about not working, i think im still adjusting to only

being able to work on the weekend, hopefully next week i will do better
and also the fact that im doing longhand, which is raw manuscript, which i hate

the day that i did work i did good work, realized as i was working just how

hard im playing everybody on the board including the reader, came up with a nice
little post i sent out on the social media spaces:

the novelist at best is the great manipulator - playing with characters and readers
with form, cultures, realities and human destiny - a good novel everything is in play

this came about because my metafictional storyteller narrator is consciously playing
all these entities on the hoodoo board of destiny/in his text

this also came out of how i want my work to be essentialist, essential to viable existence
that if you havent read me you dont understand the world like folk who have, you are at an

evolutional disadvantage,

thats what i want, thats when i feel like im macking

okay, enuf of that, did a draft of 'uncertain trumpet of barack of obama' post, if i was doing it
here i would go ahead and put it up as is and clean it up over the next couple of days but since

tbr i dont have direct access for rewrite purposes i guess i best let it mature before i put it up
dont want to let it hang around too long because i cant spend a lot of time working on it

thats eating up noveltime, i cant give it but so much of it up

interesting doing it behind all that controversy about sept 11, this battle
to define what that day means to us, means to america, this is a battle

for the soul of america, as is nov 2010, and 2012, ohwell, let me save all that for my obama piece

its 3 am sunday morning and i should be reading manuscripts now,
but ima see if i can get me a 6 hour longhand session in 1st, i do that

and i will feel okay about this weekend, i will feel good about myself, i will feel good about life

just give me some pages, lord, thats all i ask, give me some pages, give them to me now

your devoted servant

rdoc

 

SATURDAY

hello world, im feeling really crunched these days
back at the schoolhouse and trying to adjust to not

having woodshed time on my novel, god i hate that, i teach both classes
on tuesday this semester and use wed for organizing paperwork & such

so i have thurs, fri and sat for my work, by sunday i need to be reading
student stories for my tues workshops, but if i blow a day as i have done this

week, i dont get but two days, which will incline me to try to nudge sunday
but that only leaves one day of class prep, which is not enough

also i think ima little depressed because i keep reading about these conferences and
book fairs to which i am not invited, the literary world has just written me off

that irks me, and here i am stuck still doing longhand on my endgame

im kinda depressed, and still trying to do that tidalbasin blog bit and was hoping
i would get some new readership out of it but i just checked and i got no comments

status quo - no matter how hard i hit it - its like im just fated to be a literary footnote

a dire fate that i of course play with in rest for the weary -  got this great line my storyteller protagonist
just came up with yesterday - "whenever i tell a story i expect it to change the world and it never does"

i love that line - thats one of the things i like about being a novelist, even defeat becomes material
in fact its defeat that make the best material

i must be the hardest working literary footnote ever

ohwell, all i can do is keep on kicking it, fuck the world, fuck everybody,

i know ima great writer, even if my work to date dont reflect it, even if im 60 now
and surely i dont have many more productive years in me, everyday the good lord

give me ima work at being the me im supposed to be, ima be pondering, ima be clocking pages

like a great writer should

and fuck everybody else, fuck everybody that cant see it, i know it and thats whats important

and im not going to let the world convince me otherwise, aint nothing gon turn me around

reality can kiss my ass, ima do this

ima keep conducting myself as a great writer should and hope the generations

are more perceptive than my own - and if not fuck them too, when i write i write words

of power, words of significance, words the generations will not be able to ignore

because i wrestle with issues that will be important to them, that will enhance the human condition

i try to write words that will grow with time and not diminish - at least thats the plan - and if it

doesnt work fuck it, i wont care - ima be dead anyway

ima keep conducting myself as if i were in truth the writer i aspire to be
this is the essence of conjuration, conduct yourself as you aspire to be and you are

so my last post for tribal basin was a recap, a revision of an old babajohn post

i think ima alternate them, give them 'major' posts and raw posts reflecting on process
and digital work in the 21st century

but you know i wasnt going to pass up a chance to give babajohn some play

however and wherever i can

working on one ima send them called 'the uncertain trumpet of barack obama'

basically saying we gon have to mount up and save barack in spite of himself

the alternative - president palin and her teaparty cabinet is just to painful to contemplate

samesame a republican led congress - they dont even try to govern, they dont believe in it

their ability to hookwink the american people depress me too, and barack aint helping

with that weak tune he been playing,

im out, i got longhand to do, ima squeeze sunday, (maybe halfsunday) otherwise i didnt get but one days

work done this week - and i cant take that - not when im locked in battle w/the blues

the literary world and everybody else

except for you dear regulators, thank god for you

all my love

rdoc

---------------------- 

“our struggle for liberation is indeed a long long distance race, for we are out for nothing short of winning the entire human race and we are up against a formidable foe. to win this race will require planning, pacing, discipline and stamina, and a belief in our ability to win the long protracted struggle. we must construct one hundred year plans; two hundred year plans. we must construct institutions for generations unborn.” john oliver killens

i am flowers of the delta clan flowers and the line of o. killens

this the ritualized 1st line of all my major works, a griotic opening, who you are and who
 you were trained by. i was trained by john o killens, the great griot master of brooklyn

babajohn taught me not only how to write but how to be a writer.  taught me how to be a visionary, what he called a longdistance runner, what i call the longgame.

babajohn showed me the way

i came to nyc in the summer of 73 to get into babajohns workshop over at columbia and stayed in it till he died in 1987. where ever john taught he stipulated that his workshop would be open to the community and over the years he drew a cadre of young writers unto him.

13 years i followed john killens from school to school, from columbia to howard to bronx community to his final resting place at medgar evers. only looking back do i see that i was learning what is called in mystic traditions, the unwritten knowledge – that which can only be learned from the extended example of the masters life.

i have internalized so many of john o’s precepts about being a writer that he continues to guide me to this day. i would never do anything as a writer that i dont think john o would approve of.

we were all politicos and artistic activists who had come out of the black arts movement, believed in art as an instrument of cultural empowerment, an instrument of redemption.  thats why we were drawn to john in the 1st place, he showed us how it was done.

first thing we all had to learn that politics cant carry a story. babajohn used to tell us over and over, “the more important that you have to say, the more obligated you are to say it well.” 

preached craft, craft and more craft.  told us we had to grow as craftsfolk for the rest of our literary lives.

over the years john o’s literary reputation declined and he is no longer read. his advice not to let politics overwhelm the craft was paid for in the coin of his own work.

but folk who leave john o out of any exploration of afro am lit just dont understand the game. john os influence transcends his work. babajohns efforts to institutionalize a black literary infrastructure and train generations of blackwriters in the longgame will make his influence unprecedented. he left behind legions infused with a sense of responsibility for the tribal soul and destiny and the cultural skills to manifest it.

john o taught us to be cultural custodians, guide and guardian of the tribal soul and destiny, shield and spear

in pursuit of that vision he tried to make of himself a place where young writers grew (as in his name do i).  in doing so he taught generations of writers in the longgame, trained us in how to be a literary mob, how to wield literary power, how to be successful writers and cultural influents.

babajohn tried to make sure we were not only powerful but righteous. in my literary cubdom i aspired to be a machiavellian thinker who would forge blackfolk into a conquering horde and fling them into battle. power was my field of study and people were just factors to be used, this was reflected in my work

one day babajohn pull me aside and said, “art, you a brilliant writer but with a little compassion you could be profound”

i didnt get it

all I heard was “brilliant”.  wasnt until many years later i realize he was trying to ensure that my contribution to the tradition, my legacy as his student, would not be hard and cold but warm and loving – an old shaman trying to ensure the health of the tribal soul

john o. killens died may 1987. he had been terminally sick for awhile, in and out of the hospital, one of those folks just refuse to go.  last time i saw him i go out to brooklyn, house full of folks on the deathwatch.  john on the second floor, i go up to see him and im shocked. he thin and wasted, a faint reflection of who i knew him to be, just skin and bones and spirit

we talk. he knew i was thinking about going to los angeles and he telling me be careful out there, dont get lost out there he told me, dont let ever money rule the work

barely speak, still dropping knowledge, giving guidance

i assured him i would keep the faith

then he ask me to lift him up. put him in a chair that was sitting by the bed. i carefully slide my arms behind his knees and his back and when i lift him i stumble, shocked how feather light he is. i very carefully place him in the chair and arrange the blanket over him

call amazing grace, he say, thats what he call ms grace, amazing. i call her, she come upstairs and beam at him sitting there so proud

im sitting up, he told her

i see you are, she say

i like to know what’s going on around me, he say

i know you do, she say

knowing babajohn like i did was a once in a generation experience. there will never be another like him, and i feel totally blessed to have known him, to have been trained by him, to be one of his crew, best damn literary crew ever was – and with everything i do i praise his name

babajohn killens. the great griot master of brooklyn

gods blessings on us all

this spell is done

i am a traveler who knows the road

THURSDAY

hello all, under the gun here, trying to get into a production groove while doing schoolhouse

also doing this guest blogger thing for tidal basin review, had not planned to repeat here but
dont have time to be doing two blogs, can barely get one out, havent dont but two posts and

here it is the 9th already, i want to use that time on tbr stage to get me some new readership
so i got to throw down on them, want to do a posting every couple of days, we will see

this is the one i did a couple of days ago, this where i got the ima traveler bit
ima add a bit about letting it be bad that wasnt on the one i sent in, im used to

being able to edit my posts, ohwell, i got to go clock some pages
what with schoolhouse all i got is thur fri and sat to get my work done

I Am A Traveler Who Knows The Road

 

hello tbr folk, sorry i been tardy with my posts, been on the road
i will do better

trying to think what i can knock off right quick that’s gon be of real use to you
let me run a quick bit on making novels, which i love to do

and i love teaching other folk how to do it

novels are difficult to handle in a workshop format

but i strive to make my workshops novel friendly

i got tricks for making novels work in workshop, basically you dont really critique a novel
till its mature - mostly those early drafts its rah rah, you can do it

basically making a novel happen you have to get that 1^st draft out of your head and
on paper - most writers just barrel through that initial draft

treat it as a coherent whole, do the whole thing

and when you rewrite it, rewrite the whole thing

you can spend months cleaning up individual chapters
then as novel evolves those chapters no longer work

not only does your novel grow unevenly but youve wasted months, if not years

same same working off outlines, working off outlines will save you years of fumbling

some folk avoid outlines because they say outlines block spontaneity

thing about working off outlines is they written in water

everyday you work on your novel it evolves and you follow it where ever it take you

you let it evolve, you let it breath and what you eventually come up with is

so far beyond what you originally concepted its magical

thats what gives literature its power

letting that novel breath and evolve

you got to be willing to let that 1st draft be bad, a lot of folk cant deal with that and put it down
but 1st drafts are almost inevitably bad, first 3 or 4 drafts will likely be trash, you just got to believe

you got to have faith that rewrite will come thru,

of course you all the time reading for licks and constantly studying the craft

and lit crit too so as to constantly grow as a professional

you patient and you give it the years it takes

to move a work from mediocre to good to great

making drafts you live by the deadlines

every draft you take into consideration whats going on in your life
you choose a deadline that you can reasonably do a draft in

you choose a novel pagecount (200 pager, 300, how long you want this novel to be)
you determine how many pages a day will get you to that point with manuscript in hand

considering whats going on in your life and how many hours you can
squeeze out of your day for daily production, one hour, two, three

many as your life and focus can stand

folk talking about they cant find the time in their lives to write

they not serious about this  - you wasting your time and mine

life will constantly be telling you you dont have time

that you got to be taking care of real business

quit dreaming

but you got to tell life no, im taking time for this, this for me

its one of those psychological blocks that some people never get past

at every stage in the pursuit of literary mastery you run up

on psychological blocks that will keep you from doing what

you have to do to make this dream real

ive been in this business some 30 odd years now and ive seen thousands of
wouldbe writers and only a few, lets say a hundred or so, made the cut

most of them just never got serious about their daily production

never got over the hump and built their lives around production

thats what divide the writers from the dilettantes

buddy of mine once said if it was easy everybody would walk down the street and get some

i have paid many dues to be a literary man but i love being a writer

i could not have dreamed a better life than the one i have lived

i love being a writer, i love being a novelist

and i love helping folk write novels, I pride myself on being good at it, i am a traveler

who knows the road

TUESDAY

hello all, i been off the grid, on the road mostly, down in the delta doing family drama

went to fort pillow while i was there, walked the sacred ground, fort pillow plays a large

part in my novel, nathan bedford forrest and the massacre of black soldiers during the civilwar
so i had written all these scenes that were basically the storming of the alamo but since the

south shall rise again folk had rebuilt fort pillow as a southern shrine i figured the thing to do was walk the ground

glad i did, it wasnt the alamo, it wasnt fort apache, it was a dirt berm with cannon,

the forrest folk would have laughed me off the field, that old colored boy didnt know what he was talking about - old devil whupped him didnt he, whupped him good

one of the things i want to do with this novel is mess w/forrests mythwork, and all the south that consider forrest some kind of hero,

always best to walk the ground when it come to research

particularly with historical work, you never satisfied you got it right, ive found reading newspapers of the time to be useful

though there is nothing quite as soul draining as microfiche, i got to go, maybe work this later, i got to go

i need to get some rest, so maybe i can clock some pages tomorrow

all my love

rdoc