rootwork the rootsblog: a cyberhoodoo webspace

woodshed: 2012: preparation

TUESDAY

i believe this is a week later tuesday, ive been underwater closing down the semester

but this i couldnt let pass:  so, in order to prove his dickensonian theories about child labor,
gingrich asks his buddy trump to mentor poor students from the ghetto -

"I thought it was a great idea," says trump, "We're going to be picking 10 young wonderful children and make them 'apprenti.' We're going to have a little fun with it."

thats all we need, donald trump having a little fun w/our children - i call that child abuse

 

MONDAY



times is hard, times is very very hard, im fortunate to have my academic gig

got about as much job security as you can have these days

its everybody esle im worried about

 

 

SATURDAY

so. recent article on chris albani going around, say he has embellished his resume
folk taking sides in african/afroam literary circles, i suspect the article has some truth to it

but i have to say i like albani and consider him a literary comrade
as you know dear regulators, we hung out some in bali

he came to me w/respect, which always counts with me
and he handled himself on the panels w/grace & dignity

i was in fact somewhat put out he outmacked me, im used to being the man
of the hour at these things, so ima cover his back on this one

its not like its a felony, embellishing your resume, ive done it myself, as did zora et al
though perhaps not so vigorously - it if was a felony transgression, say for instance, saffire

i might join the bandwagon, talking about where the line, but albanis trangression
if such it is, i consider minor, and i consider him a friend so ima back his play on this one

call it a personal

what i hope is that he will evolve, come clean, finessee it w/some grace & dignity
& land on his literary feet, reputation ehnaced, power intact - thats what i hope

do your thing my brother, grace under pressure, thats the call

all my love

rdoc

FRIDAY

im feeling it, feeling a woodshed coming down on me

i suspect there those that will say o no arthur, not another draft - what can i say, the industry has humbled me
told me no - i do not accept no on my work, i do not understand no, had arranged sabbatical for new work but

apparently there is no rest for the weary, its me & that novel, 1 more time, gon do a coltrane on them, going off
the grid, going into the woodshed, & when i come back ima be packing power, fullcourt hardcore, there it is

 got about another month of schoolhouse obligations, but im already operating traveling spirit
im functioning, im taking care of my business, but my heart is back at home at the sacred desk

thats just my traveling spirit folk dealing with now

got those woodshed anxities trying to knot me up, that fear that you will fail, not have it in you
just got to ignore that, got to stay schoolhouse focused for about 3 more weeks, put about 3 projects

to bed and i will be a free man

tarabooks asked for a brer rabbit story, i can do that, been intending to rewrite those for awhile now

been asked to do a piece on black manhood, ima reflect on the heroship to which i aspire

and i think ima reprise my annual prophecies, rickydocs call, maybe sustain it this time

got to got to got to  -

also got to apologize to a student i jacked her up for conducting herself in an unprofessional manner
got potential and was turning in raw material, i called her unprofessional and i suspect she was confused

thinking im just an undergrad, but by profesional i mean there is certain behavior conducive to winning this
gamble she has chosen to devote her life to, one in which the odds are totally against her winning

and if you want to win you have to conduct yourself seriously, professionally, i had to explain to her never turn in
raw material to a workshop, take it as far as she can take it, then workshop it. treat your work w/some respect

and i guess this goes for every kind of artist there is out there, i got intense on her, will apologize
i do that sometime, sometimes i get intense on the whole class and start snarling at them

and have to apologize, because im such a jolly good fellow professor sometimes they try me

but after ive snarled at them a couple of times they dont try me no more

all my love

rdoc

 

its all good, just keep struggling

TUESDAY

going to city to meet up w/tara books folk (promiseland), will run some errands while im there, including my customary pilgrimage to my mentors grave - babajohns killens, the great griot master of brooklyn -

going to be on sabbatical next semester and looking forward to some seriously productive woodshed,
reaching for the next level on rest for the weary - need to get babajohns blessings on that

be nice to lunch w/marie brown while im there, the queen mother, not in age perhaps but she serves the function
believe she told me she was going to be out of town w/cave canen, i guess one blessing will be enuf

all my love

 

 

FRIDAY

some of my grad students going down to OWS over the holiday
this cause me to reflect on its value, perhaps reconsider, if my

students down im down, i feel otherwise like the old fogeys used to say of us during the
civilrights movement - what are you kids doing now, yall just riling up the whitefolk

i have to acknowledge that the OWS movement has brought the question
of growing social stratification to the fore in a society that has not engaged

it as an issue and thats got to be good, i will accept the peculiarities and
apparent lack of strategic as part of the cost of doing business, so to speak

me, ima sit here and get some novelwork done, a little miniwoodshed

ever since i can remember as a politically engaged artist, the temptation been to man the barricades
i was susceptible to the ivorytower position in a manner as a youthful artist that i am not now

my most salient contribution to the possible enhancement of the human condition is getting my Work done
making books -  books that i hope will shape genereation upon generation of humanitys destiny

forgive the hubris but i have to believe that in order to possibly achieve it, wont know for generations after im gone
if ive been successful so my primary goal at this point in my life is get Rest and The Hoodoo Book of Flowers done

before i die or am otherwise incapicitated - past 60 you aware that can happen in the blink of an eye

marches, protest, battles with police, been there done that, looking back over my life i
regret though all the energy i gave to the barricades over the years, not in the sense i

wish i hadnt done them, i also regret the sex, drugs, & the rock & roll that have kept my production down
but i surely did enjoy them, the sex, the drugs, the rock & roll & the politics, being out there, its all good

and im cool w/every phase of life ive gone thru to get me to where i am now
w/the life material/training & disposition to make books that i think will be historically significant

who knows if they actually will be but this a gamble im willing to bet my life on
so ima sit here at the Sacred Desk and use the holiday to throwdown

a little mini woodshed, get up to speed for my sabbatical, doing my part -
the one that nobody else in the world can do, making my vision manifest

through my Works

this one primarily for my students going OWS over the holiday, im very proud of you, im with you in spirit

but ima sit here and get my work one - as you mature & slow down i want you to remember that

a luta continua OWS

 

 

WEDNESDAY

last reading of the semester yesterday, univ of wisc, madison, good reading but its been a rough semester, ive had a reading almost every week, which is a good thing - financially its gotten me out the hole, raised my profile, etc - but apparently the old road warrior aint what he used to be, classes been disrupted, old boy worn out & doing catch up, im glad its done

man, this whole campus is up in arms against gov. walker, everybody is wired about the recall that starts today
god i hope they win it, right now i feel like they will get more out of that than an occupy madison thing

right now the occupy folk appear to be mostly fighting for the right to camp out, i still cant get over the feeling this a diversion

feel like thats struggle energy that could be put to more productive use, i think about the OWISC
movement when walker pushed thru the antiunion bill, when they overrun the capitol, now theyve

channelled that energy into the walker recall, thats what im talking about, evolution of struggle

a luta continua OWS

SUNDAY

israels implacable resistance to 2 state solution leads me to believe one state, one people, one democracy
is only viable option, i know israel dont want to hear that & apparently neither do the palestinians, both

would have to compromise their identities -

but the only other option is pushing israel into the sea - thats problematic on a lot of levels

buddy of mine, mildred barya, has the best blog, and shes agreed to show me how to primetime mine
but then i look at mildreds and i think of the work that it must entail to keep it going,

my little anarchronism i just sit here and think on the keyboard for about 15 minutes average and im
done  - who got time for more than that - imogunla used to call it minimum maintenance

ima take her up on the offer to show me how its done maybe, very 21st century literary skill,
at this point in my life, its my students that keep me primetime

im out

 

SATURDAY

hello world, im in a strange space, im going to be on sabbatical next semester
when i scheduled it i thought i would be working on my next book, but it appears

i am still working on rest for the weary, which is cool, its a much stronger draft and thats
always cool, the industry held onto it so long i came up w/ideas to make it stronger

so im going for a endofyear deadline, but thats because i want to get it back to my agent so she
can send it out for the 2nd wave, then i figure i will spend the next 4-5 months on a real rewrite

hopefully w/editorial input - then maybe spend the summer on the hoodoo book of flowers
my hoodoo holybook, thats what i really want to work on - the great black book of generations

so anyway, what i was going to say is that my head is already into the woodshed mode
i got a lot of schoolhouse commitments that i got to squeeze into this last month

but my heart and my soul and my spirit, they in the woodshed already -  i told you i
think dear regulators, about how i been capping my promiseland presentations

(just realized) presentation next week on being vietnam vet at univ of wisc, its going to be capped w/vote
call too, i guess every presentation i do on college circuit these days will lead to exhortations to vote

doing my little neglible part, such as it is, to counter rightwing voter repression strats, they
shameless about it, for instance working minorities often use early and sunday voting to vote

so the repubs are cutting those back en mass, voters id laws, etc etc,
might as well just charge them a polltax

the obama administration has implemented a 'voters protection' program

but what we got to do is faciitate those targeted blocs voting, poorfolk, workingfolk, the students, minorities, the 99%s and whoever else might vote progressive, i dont tell the students who they should vote for

i just tell them to vote, i tell them we are in a war for the soul of america and their voice should be counted
your world, your vote, i tell them i envy them, they just starting to shape their world, mine is pretty much a done deal

i got to go, be nice to get a little work done today

all my love

rdoc

 

 

THURSDAY

guess if the old buffalo soldier gon show up i need to show up too
it unfortunate that breh cain getting jacked now, would have been

better for him to win the primary, then get jacked, even obama could
have beat cain, even before the allegations, romney will be a tougher

nut to crack, if he wins the primary he will go right w/the quickness, betting the
right will be in the same position we in w/obama - got to love the one you with

even more problematic if we must lose, better it be to romney, hes actually one
america could live with, better one of their ideologues win, a fool like cain

ohwell, its all in the timing, and best you maintain the long view, keep some perspective

when you been thru as many phases of struggle as i have, you come to realize

its all good, just keep struggling

did a reading at duke for promiseland, the asian studies dept brought me down

they discuss it in an undergrad class but it did my heart good to see it being taken so seriously
even when they jacked me up about certain parts it was good to be jacked seriously

then i was supposed to do a performance, from it, wanted to do my basic thing because it comes easy
but ive enjoyed the challenge of trying to do it like the patua do it, which is basically sing the book

which means that i will be singing a text of african american struggle, im really hyped about this
but its been touch and go, but it came to me while preparing for this to use chants from the movement

aint gon let nobody turn me around

we shall overcome

and the like, including one of my favs:

no more whitefolk, no more whitefolk, over me, and before i be a slave, i will be buried in my grave
and there will be no more whitefolk, over me

i changed that one to no more slavemasters, no more bosses over me - universalizing the struggle, what can i say - shouldve said no more 1% over me

then i start throwing in spirituals and broadway play stuff, struggle songs like the one from your arm too short to box with god:

we got to keep moving, we got to keep moving on, weve come a long way from where we been, but we got to keep on moving, till we move on it  -  weve come thru some mighty low valleys, we have climbed mountains too high to climb, but when i look back, over my track, it feel like we been marking time  -  we got to keep moving

then i sang mlks mountaintop closure and when i had them good and caught i told them what it meant to me to be part of shaping martins legacy and i talked about all the folk who have died for the right to vote and told the kids its on you, o i had a ball

and now i see how im going to play readings from that book, it came together this time, a song of african american struggle, after ive done it about 4 or 5 more times, ima know it by heart, thats when its really going

to start to sing, and be different everytime i do it, but the essence will be moving the congregation, i cant wait

its all good, just keep struggling

rdoc